The Hidden Activist Campaign That Spread a Rainbow in Russia

Eloi Pierozan Junior, a gay man from a small town in Brazil, was assigned the color yellow. His mission? To walk the streets of Moscow on July 9th with his other team members: six participants in an act of covert queer solidarity, all from different countries, each wearing a soccer jersey in a different color of the rainbow, coming together to spread an LGBTQ+ pride message hidden in plain sight.

“‘Are you crazy? It’s very dangerous,’ my partner told me,” Junior says. “But I told him the risk doesn’t matter to me. It’s a project I want to support.”

The Hidden Flag

The “Hidden Flag” project was conceived by a digital ad agency in Spain called LOLA MullenLowe, which partnered with FELGBT, Spain’s federation for LGBTQ+ rights. The idea was to take advantage of the attention the FIFA World Cup has brought to Russia to shine a light on the systemic oppression the LGBTQ+ community there faces.

Russian citizens are currently banned from disseminating “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations to minors,” thanks to “gay propaganda” laws passed in 2013. This includes rainbow flags. The laws have been condemned by human rights organizations, which argue they essentially ban queer people from being able to exist in public, as doing so can be categorized as propaganda.

The Hidden Flag

“LGBT people there cannot show themselves as they are in public or they could end up in jail,” Junior says. “It’s sad. It’s important for us to let them know they are not alone.”

With these policies in place, a display of resistance would have to be subtle. The team of six represents six different countries, with Spain, Holland, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia present. They went unnoticed walking through crowds, then formed a rainbow for photo ops throughout the city.

“Both the FELGTB and FARE (FIFA’s anti-discrimination network) warned visiting LGBTQ fans not to participate in any political protests and to avoid public displays of affection,” reads the press release from LOLA Mullenware.

The Hidden Flag

Junior was aware of this, but says he’s glad he did it, and that the positive feedback has made it worth it. “Messages from Russian LGBT people especially have made me emotional,” he says. “To send them a message of love has been so powerful.”

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